As a former touring actor and comedian, I’ve spent my fair share of time in hotel rooms. And, don’t get me wrong, hotels are great places to stay – I mean, they clean your room every day. How can you not love that? But, sometimes you just want to experience something different. Something a little left of centre.

A day spent on the water is a quintessential experience when travelling to Newfoundland & Labrador. Set sail from St. John's harbour and witness the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales, 12,000 year old icebergs and elegant seabirds feeding in our coastal waters. Iceberg Quest’s award winning tour has been departing from St. John’s and Twillingate showcasing Newfoundland’s unique charm for over a decade. I sat down down with Captain Barry Rogers for an unforgettable hour as he regaled me with tales of his childhood on the water, the beginnings of Iceberg Quest and a sneak peek of some of their new product offerings for 2014.

Walking into Magnum & Steins at 329 Duckworth Street you feel like you've walked into the home of an old friend. The atmosphere is cozy and familiar and you are greeted with a friendly smile. I sat down with owners Denise and Bernie Fowler (as well as the rest of the staff) to chat about the opening of the new Wine Bar, Magnum's history and of course, sample some incredible food and wine!

Growing up in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the fondest memories as a child was heading out to my Grandmother’s house for Jiggs’ Dinner. For those of you who don’t know, Jiggs’ Dinner – also known as “boiled” or “Sunday” dinner – is a traditional meal that consists of salt beef, turnip, cabbage, potato, carrot, pease pudding, and more often than not, some kind of dessert. Our Jiggs’ Dinner, on both sides of the family, included a turkey.

Do I need to reintroduce you to the blaa? I probably do. The humble bread roll from Waterford, it is fluffy, square and white with a flour crust, and we are a little obsessed with it. It is thought that it came to Waterford with the Huguenots who called it blanc (because it was a simple white roll), but with our accent and a little time to erode it, it became a blaa.

Celebrated in eleven cities across Canada in 2013, Gold Medal Plates features the premier chefs in each city in a competition to crown a gold, silver and bronze medal culinary team in each city, and subsequently nation-wide at the Canadian Culinary Championships.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a very special dinner hosted by RANL (Restaurant Association of Newfoundland and Labrador) and The Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland. From This Rock - A Dinner of Local Fare is an annual culinary tour that travels across the province presenting attendees with a multi- course dinner prepared by some of the provinces best chefs.

Driving to and fro to Twillingate, you pass by Prime Berth Twillingate Fishery & Heritage Centre. They are hard to miss as there is a whale skeleton beside their fishing stage just as you cross the causeway onto Twillingate Island.

On many of our past hiking trips to Gros Morne our focus has been on the longer trails that the national park is well known for. We certainly enjoy hiking Gros Morne Mountain or the spectacular Green Garden trail but the communities in the park have developed some nice trails so that became the focus of our most recent trip. The advantage of these trails is that they are often short and in the communities where people may be staying so can be done after supper or in the morning before heading off to another destination.

A bus dropped us off at the side of the road where a small flag, set beside a narrow path that led into the forest, indicated the start of the trail. It was not a simple walking trail, there were some difficult parts, but it was beautiful. Halfway along the trail there was a lookout. I felt as though I was standing on top of the forest. All I could see were the tops of trees stretching out toward the open ocean in the distance. As I stood there catching my breath and taking in the beauty, I could almost have believed I was the only person on the planet....this is the chef hike at The Gathering Festival in Burlington Newfoundland

We just returned from comedian Shaun Majumder’s “The Gathering” in Burlington on the Baie Verte, Peninsula and we can’t say enough good things about the event. This was the second year of “The Gathering” which is designed to feature fire, food and music and to raise money to help build BSM Manor.

First leg of a two week RV trip from St.John's to St.Anthony: over 1,000 kilometers of eating, hiking and biking. First day: St.John's to Terra Nova National Park to get schooled in life in an RV. www.gorving.ca

On Thursday, August 1 we headed to Gros Morne National Park to check out some of their new offerings. First up was a “Yaffle of Chores” which takes place at Broom Point. This programme is part of Experience Gros Morne which runs from June 28 to September 2 and covers a range of activities from guided hikes to nature interpretation. A “Yaffle of Chores” is a new programme that was started this year.